Jodhpur photos part II

Recap of the Jodhpur trip, continued:

Jodhpur was originally nicknamed the “Sun City,” because it’s high in the middle of the desert. Somewhere along the line it acquired the nickname “Blue City,” because apparently the old Brahmin families painted their houses indigo. (Why? Because it was expensive.) Now, apparently, blue dye is much cheaper than it used to be and anyone can paint their house. So a lot of people do! And it makes the city look pretty when viewed from the fort:

After the fort, we walked about a kilometer (a VERY hot kilometer) to Jaswant Thanda, a large and beautiful memorial to Jaswant Singh (1878-95). According to the guidebooks, he rid Jodhpur of bandits, built irrigation systems, and “boosted the economy.” Interpret that how you will. The building is pretty, though you had to take your shoes off (at the bottom of the steps you see in the photo) and walking around was a little bit hot on the feet. I didn’t stay up there long. Instead I sat under a tree (read: shade) and rested. I am old and boring like that. And it felt so good.

After the tomb, we took a very complicated rickshaw ride (which actually required no less than FIVE rickshaws) to get to lunch. I don’t remember this part very well, because I was delirious from heat and hunger, but I do know that the first rickshaw we rode in was called the “Love Guru.” And I also remember that we didn’t have lunch until after 4pm, which is nearly a cardinal sin in my book.

And finally, just to prove that there really ARE camels in the street, I managed to capture this photo from a rickshaw as we were heading to the bus stop to leave town. Please ignore the glaring bit of US commercialism just above the camel’s head.

A picture post: Jodhpur

We went to Jodhpur this weekend. It’s a desert city west of here, which means it’s a little bit closer to Pakistan, and has a bit more of a Muslim population. The night we arrived, we sat on the roof of our hotel at their rooftop restaurant. We had a spectacular view of the fort and the city, and as we were eating the Muslim call to prayer started. One by one these haunting, chanting voices arose from the city until there was a cacophony of heavy, rhythmic voices pulsing through the air. It was ethereal: the hot, dusty, dry desert air, the large and looming fort, and the chanting voices. Something I don’t have words for made sense at that moment.

The next day we went to visit the large and looming Mehengarh fort. It was beautiful, and the weather was hot and windy (as you can see from my dupatta billowing in the wind):

We entered the fort through the large front gate (the woman in the picture is Chloe, a fellow student, and the man to her left is the tour guide we hired):

Immediately inside the entrance is a wall where you can see dents from cannonballs that hit the fort (and a little of the local fashion, as well):

The fort is carved out of two types of sandstone, and has some incredible detail. The fact that the sandstone has survived in such detail for over 500 years is a testament to the desert climate of the city. In the third picture, you can see me, Chloe, and Clare (my travel-mates for the trip) standing in an archway inside a courtyard within the temple. Inside the fort there is sort of a palace, with exquisitely decorated rooms for the maharaja, his queens, his harem, his ministers, and so on.

Also, this is Rajasthan, which sits on the edge of the Thar desert. The Thar is on the border of India and Pakistan. It is pretty common for men here to wear turbans, and I don’t think I’ve yet posted a picture. This one doesn’t do them justice, as the turbans are often brightly colored or rainbow colored, but here is an idea:

I’m having net difficulty, so I’m going to see if I can post this and put the rest in a separate  post.